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Free
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:09 am
by LordAli
One of my favourite rock bands, found in 1968. Guitarist Paul Kossoff, played on marshall amps as well. Paul got interesting style of playing for me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kossoff
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 1:18 pm
by yngwie308
Paul has one of the top ten vibratos of all time, and he plays for the the song...not the
only one 
Loved Free have there, more on Paul later I have some interesting stories about him and his equipment.
yngwie308
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 1:21 pm
by JimiJames
(Ddespite the tragic story...)
This was a GREAT band ! Great songs. Great Sound !
Paul & Paul sounded soo good together ! All Right Now !
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:21 pm
by LordAli
Could you yngwie explain Paul's gear ? Especially what fuzz/distortion he used ? Thx
Album Fire and Water (from 1970) is great (and others as well
)
Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 3:23 pm
by jcs
if you listen close kossoff used a pretty clean tone.
those real les paul bursts had a ton of sustain so there was no need to push the amp really hard.
on my 71 marshall 50 i have to use a 12at7 in v3 and set the volume no more than 5-6 to get close to kossoffs tone.
actually i get even closer to his tone with my 63 tremolux thru a 4x12
besides,kossoff main influence was 'bb king' from what i gathered and later 'hendrix' and 'the band'.
i like the back street crawler stuff too.
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 12:59 am
by mwm523
Kossoff's tone was so sweet... Free is one of my all time favorites. RIP Paul.
Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:32 pm
by wide slide
Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 11:25 pm
by yngwie308
I have seen Paul Kossoff using lesd heads, PA heads, mostly he rolled off a lot of treble on the amps,and this helped with his bassy,warm tone.
He said he had worked many years to perfect his vibrato.
http://www.freewebs.com/paulkossoff/musicvideo.htm
Great videos here and shows off Paul K's ability to build up thematic chord melodies,especially on Mr. Big.
Killer stuff.
yngwie308
Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:11 am
by yngwie308
Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:18 am
by jcs
i stupidly left out one of the biggest influences on free and kossoff which was 'the band'.
Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:14 am
by Country Boy Shane
Another sad story... dead at 25. I can't say I'm personally the biggest fan of his fast narrow vibrato, but his phrasing in many of his solos is brilliant. I've learned a lot from him as far as control over your dynamics and picking attack.
Okay I know I've riled up a hornet's nest by sort of trashing his vibrato, but I personally prefer a slightly slower and wide vibrato. Sort of like the ones used by SRV and in extreme cases Zakk Wylde.
Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 2:58 pm
by electricskychurch
SRV really plays differently (funkier, as his favorite guitarist: Albert King ) from Kossof , not even speaking about Zaak 's music compared to Free's heavy blues.
Paul's playing isn't very complicated but like all the other good blues players, he's got soul !!
SRV is a really good blues player but that's Texas blues , not British blues .
for me, even if Zaak is a good guitar player (i'm also sure he can play some nice blues) , it's already another type of tone and music and to my taste, isn't getting much better with new generations.
it just doesn't give me goosebumps !
is it because you can think you're a genius making music with a computer not even playing the least instrument ? Lol ( knowing i'm also using those new technologies as i've been making much electronic music as well)
maybe, maybe not, but it didn't raise the quality of the music we listen to everyday ; it's called levelment by the lowest side !
at the time where most of the bluesmen were starving in the USA, they were Legends in Europe, especialy in UK and France (that's also true for Jazz players that were coming a lot to play in St Germain , in Paris in the 50's ).
like many rock legends of that time, Kossof's tone roots are in the blues, unlike many bands we hear today.
there's a great Free 5 cd's box available with a nice booklet inside (great pictures with paul in rec studio, some guitars...), a live different from the " Free Live" , some alternative takes and some post Free recordings.